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Highlighter Shoes

There’s a trend that needs to be addressed. Shoe companies are making sneakers in the brightest most vibrant colors you can think of. Electric colored sneakers that my boyfriend lovingly calls highlighter shoes. Originally I wondered if it was just one crazy company pumping out these blinding kicks. As I started to do research online for this post I was surprised that the trend was supported by all brands. I found examples from New Balance, Nike, Puma, Reebok etc.

Usually I am all for color but this is too much. The sneakers aren’t totally at fault. The men wearing them share half of the blame. Unfortunately the men buy these shoes don’t know what to do with such powerful color. Let me take a moment to say that a lot of straight guys and bears are not concerned about fashion. They want to look nice but there’s no deep thought given to color, cut, or style and that’s totally ok. Honestly I respect that. Simplicity and classic masculine pieces will always look great. But here in lies the problem, the bear that has always rocked basic khaki shorts and a blue polo now suddenly has flaming sun sneakers on his feet. It just looks wrong. Keep it casual. Don’t try and make your feet look like the newest superhero villain Blaze: The Sun Demon.

The sneakers themselves aren’t inherently awful but the only way to successfully make them work is to wear them while playing sports or exercising in an outfit of equal brightness. (Under Armour performance apparel comes to mind). I support them being worn by athletes during their respective sports. However, please do no wear these on a dinner date with jeans and a white button down. I applaud these guys for stepping outside their wheelhouse and attempting something more flashy but dial it back a couple degrees. Either that or dress in an orange lycra bodysuit.

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While were on the subject of sneakers: Athletic style is not always my personal favorite but I like to think I at least understand the basics. With that said, will someone please explain these Reebok’s to me? I’m at a loss for words…